Argentine stocks, peso slip after mid-week holiday

BUENOS AIRES, July 10 (Reuters) - Argentine stocks fell on
Thursday, absorbing Wall Street's losses from a day before
when local markets were shut for a national holiday, traders
said.

The benchmark MerVal index .MERV slipped 0.39 percent
from Tuesday's close to end at 1,940.15 points. The index shed
as much as 1.6 percent earlier in the session, and it is down
nearly 8 percent since July 1.

"The difficult time that financial shares are having in
the United States affected our banks, which are the ones that
pressured the MerVal lower," said Horacio Corneille, head of a
brokerage that bears his name.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI lost
more than 2 percent on fears of greater financial-sector
losses due to a credit squeeze. But the Dow industrials
rebounded on Thursday, helping the MerVal ease its losses.

Among the biggest losses locally was that of BBVA Banco
Frances FRA.BA, which shed 3.85 percent to end at 5.24 pesos
a share.